For months, Lovely Kev and Team Little, Brown have been sneaking around cooking up something very special to celebrate the launch of SUMMER DAYDREAMS – my twentieth novel!

Having spotted a day booked out in the diary, I managed to torture out of Lovely Kev where we were headed to just the night before! So early doors on friday saw us – somewhat bleary-eyed- driving across to Clay’s Printers in Bungay, Suffolk to see them printing my book. WOW!  PRINTING. MY. BOOK! And what a very fabulous experience it was.

It sounds so stupid, particularly after writing for so long, but I had no idea how a book was printed. Well that’s all change and I now know what a very complicated process it is. The lovely Production Director, Paul Bullen and Account Director, Vicky Ellis, gave us all a splendid tour of the factory. The printers was established nearly 200 years ago and has grown into a massive rabbit warren of a place over the years. It now employs 650 people who together produce 180 million books a year!

I saw the whole process from the cover being printed, laminated, embossed, collated, joined up with the inside pages, trimmed, pimped  and, finally, zooming all round the factory on the production line. The whole placed just seemed to be filled with my books! Quite a moving experience even for a long-in-the-tooth author.It was quite simply brilliant!

Then, to top it all, they gave us butties and chocolate! These people certainly know how to treat an author. I went away armed with fab souvenirs of all the different processes for my authors’ collection of memorabilia and memories of a unique day. It also made me realise that, really, as a writer I have the easy bit of the deal.

When I thought that things couldn’t possibly get any better, Lovely Kev whisked me off to Southwold, just a short drive from the printers. We had a lovely cuppa on the pier while the rain sheeted down.  But, as soon as we’d finished our brew, the sun came out and we had a lovely walk along the front admiring all the pretty beach huts. We wandered up through the little town, looking aghast at the property prices (a property porn fix too!) and wondered who would buy a one-bedroomed cottage for £285,000. Eek. To round off a perfect day we had the most excellent fish and chips and drove home tired but happy.

Big thanks to Paul, Vicky, Manpreet and Tom. And to Lovely Kev – I’m going to be checking your emails more closely now, matey.

Love C : ) xx

If you go along to my Facebook page, there’s a little photo-diary of my day.

Have just returned from a lovely trip to Sri Lanka. This is what I found out…

1.  They make brilliant tea and understand the whole concept of boiling the water.

2.  If on a menu it says ‘mild’, you know that it will blow your head off.

3.  If they say a dish doesn’t contain seafood it means that it only contains a bit of seafood. Well, not a huge amount.

4.  The people probably even smile in their sleep

5. All the best 1970′s biscuits have moved to Sri Lanka – lemon puffs, ginger snaps, coconut nice.

6.  Sri Lankan schoolchildren find blonde hair hilarious.

7.  No one in Sri Lanka can drive properly.

8.  Nasi Goreng is very boring after the first four days.

9.  If you tire of rice there is always omlette and chips.

10. A bed with sheets and blankets is one of the most uncomfortable things in the world.

11. 50% Deet dissolves nail polish.

12. The local ‘whiskey’ is Arrack.

13. Every time you see an elephant Arrack and coke should be drunk.

14. The Fa Hsien suite in the Lighthouse Hotel, Galle – designed by renowned Sri Lankan architect, Geoffrey Bawa – is the nicest hotel room I’ve ever stayed in.

15. A leopard is a rare thing to see and I saw two at Yala National Park.

16. If any dish has the word ‘devilled’ in it, your lips and ears will melt.

17. Nippolac is a truly terrible brand name for paint

18. To watch a blue whale, the largest mammal on the planet, from six feet away is a truly amazing thing.

19. In the hotels all the lovely bottles marked shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, bath foam and body lotion will all contain exactly the same thing.

20. Sri Lankan cling film is a lot stickier than ours.

21. Visiting the chaotic scrum that is the sacred Temple of the Tooth in Kandy is the least spiritual experience I’ve ever had.

22. Every other shop is a car repair business and with good reason.

23. There are more kingfishers in Sri Lanka than you can shake a stick at.

24. It is entirely possible to burn yourself to a crisp while lying in the shade.

25. Bohoma stuti means ‘thank you very much’.

If you go to my Facebook page there are some lovely pics of my trip on there!  C : ) xx